SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - OCTOBER 08: Matthew Kessel #51 of the St. Louis Blues checks Jordan Eberle #7 of the Seattle Kraken during the second period at Climate Pledge Arena on October 08, 2024 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)Photo: Steph Chambers / Getty Images Sport / Getty Images
For roughly 33 minutes, the Seattle Kraken ran their will over the St. Louis Blues.
They had puck possession, they had speed, they had a pair of timely goals, and they had a home crowd roaring.
Unfortunately for them, the Blues had time.
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St. Louis took advantage with three goals in 1:55 late in the second period, erasing a two-goal deficit to defeat the Kraken, 3-2 in the home team’s matinee season opener before a sellout crowd of 17,151 on Tuesday at Climate Pledge Arena.
Jordan Binnington made 30 saves, outdueling Philipp Grubauer’s 22 stops.
“The effort was there, we didn’t get the result,” said Kraken head coach Dan Bylsma.
The Kraken scored twice in the first 2:20 of the second period, seemingly on the brink of running away with their first season opening win in franchise history. But the Blues, capitalizing off emotional flare-ups between the whistles and a power play with 6:40 left, got a pair of goals from Jordan Kyrou to complete change the game, and preserving the lead with a third period lockdown approach that the Kraken struggled to counter, outshot 6-4 in the final 20 minutes.
Takeaways from the game:
1. We’re seeing a different Kraken team in motion.
The same thing happened as in the past three years: the Kraken fell short in a season opener. But the habits look different now than in the past. Dan Bylsma’s effect has arrived.
For the first half of the game, the Kraken were flying. They dictated the tempo. They were magnetic with puck possession. Bodies went to the net for screens and deflections. Vince Dunn scored on a two-on-one, then Eeli Tolvanen, off a face-off win, clogged the slot to deflect a Ryker Evans point shot past Binnington. The shot attempts in the second period at one point were 17-5 in favor of the Kraken. A sellout crowd buzzed with every chance in the offensive zone. They were feisty, fired up, and pushed back between whistles.
“Play in the offensive zone, getting there, heavy on the forecheck which made their ‘D’ think twice about the play they were going to make,” said Bylsma.
“You could feel the energy in the building because of it. I think that really continued in the second period.”
This was a loss in the record books (and more on that below), but as the first game can be an unfinished product, identity has been defined with a clear blueprint.
2. Close, but not close enough: breakdowns in the second period were the ultimate undoing.
St. Louis took a 3-2 lead at the second intermission gave them command and control. The Blues locked the third period chances to a screeching halt, a stark contrast to the first 40 minutes. The Blues could afford to play this way: the Kraken, suffering a cluster of defensive breakdowns on a pair of Kyrou goals and an untimely Philip Broberg shot hat cleanly beat Grubauer from the left circle, squandered their lead in short order.
“We got up 2-0, we had a chance to go 3-0,” said Bylsma. “(Bjorkstrand) had one on his stick in the slot, great play by Shane (Wright) – he gets a chance, that makes it 3-0 – that’s probably, for the most part, half of the game to go, but would have put it away.”
It magnified a small margin of error. An apparent 3-0 lead was overturned for offside in the second period, “no question” according to Bylsma, as Jamie Oleksiak fired a puck past Binnington, but from behind the blueline. Brandon Montour, then with a bid to tie the game on a third period power play, hit Binnington’s blocker side post.
3. Jordan Eberle was a logical fit for captain.
This happened so close to puck drop that it deserves its own place in this story.
Eberle, the second captain in Kraken history, is the first to wear the letter in 31 months after Mark Giordano was dealt to Toronto in the 2022 trade deadline. Eberle didn’t finish as the leading scorer last season. His game is built on a calm, rocksteady persona with a game capitalizing on finesse. It will be his first time ever wearing this kind of letter, dating back to his major junior days when teammate Colten Teubert was captain of the Regina Pats in the WHL.
But overall, as he’s accumulated over 1,000 games in the most elite league on the planet, he has aesthetically put together a legacy growing into four years, repeatedly pledging his loyalty to a town that has seen him in a Kraken jersey since day one. His words often pack power, insight, and poised assertiveness. You can hear it from the echoes of his teammates.
“Super excited,” said Yanni Gourde. “I was so excited when I learned the news. He played so well again (Tuesday). Winning wall battles, doing all the little things, blocking shots. He’s a leader.”
Eberle’s erasure of behemoth defenseman Colton Parayko along the boards, set up the two-on-one chance, and Dunn’s goal.
“Just winning that puck battle was tremendous,” said Gourde.
It’s a glimpse of what Eberle plans to be all about – talking through his play.
“My personality, I’m pretty straightforward,” said Eberle. “I’m not going be a guy who’s rah-rah in the locker room. I love intensity. But I try to do my work through my actions and the way I present myself.”
“My family and I, we love this city. We love the culture here. That’s a big part of why we wanted to be here.”
The Kraken have their new leader, looking to guide them into the first win of the season on Saturday at Minnesota (5pm PT).